Millie Morales believes in hard work.

“I feel that as an American citizen, we all have a great opportunity to be able to improve our life,” the 58-year-old woman explained in an interview I conducted with her in 2025. “Are you willing to put in the work, or are you not?”

Morales, whose name I changed to protect her privacy, was a stay-at-home mom devoted to caring for her large family. After her divorce, she worked at social service agencies and enrolled at a local college. Then her ex-husband stopped paying for child support, and she and her eight children faced eviction.

She said she is very grateful for the government benefits she received for the first time, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps low-income Americans buy groceries.

Those benefits made it possible for her to keep putting food on the table and remain housed until she earned a college degree and obtained jobs that could pay those bills. Now she assists families dealing with difficult medical decisions, a job that makes her feel she is able to help others through hard times in their lives.

Learning how people think about work

Morales is one of more than 100 Americans I have interviewed for my research on how people think about work and about government assistance. Currently, I am updating the research on how Americans think about government assistance, which is how I met Morales. Not all of the participants in these projects received SNAP benefits before or after these interviews.

But among those who had, I found her experience typical: SNAP provided a crucial source of support while they looked for work. With the exception of a few in........

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